UK: Amid Musk-Labour Row, Sport England Suspends X Account Over Abuse

Sport England has decided to cease its activity on Elon Musk’s platform X, citing an environment that fosters hostility towards women and girls, while the regulatory authority Ofcom is investigating the AI tool Grok for generating sexual content.

Sport England, the body that promotes physical activity in England and distributes government funds along with money from the National Lottery to grassroots initiatives, announced its decision through a post by its chairman Chris Boardman.

There, he emphasized that the Grok tool produces “repugnant results” that reinforce misogynistic content and normalize it, which contradicts the values of the organization.

Yet, this move follows the launch of an investigation by Ofcom into platform X, sparked by concerns that Grok is being used to create sexualized images. Ministers welcomed this initiative and called for its swift completion.

Investigations and statistics

According to a BBC study published last month, over 2,000 highly abusive messages were identified, including death and rape threats, directed at Premier League and Women’s Super League players in a single weekend. Platform X accounted for 82% of this abuse.

Meanwhile, X has stated that users producing illegal content through Grok will face consequences equivalent to those for directly posting such material. Owner Elon Musk accused the UK government of looking for “any excuse for censorship,” questioning why other AI services are not being scrutinized.

Previous concerns about abuse

Last summer, Sport England had approached Ofcom, expressing deep concern over a wave of racist and sexist abuse against England’s women’s national football team, known as the Lionesses. Boardman underlined that sport should be a space of safety and acceptance for all.

As he stated, “these values deserve defending. When a space undermines them, leaving is not a weakness, but a responsibility.” At the same time, he acknowledged that some organizations choose to remain in such environments to address negative narratives from within; however, Sport England deemed withdrawal the right course of action.

Athlete protection measures

Meanwhile, UK Sport has invested over £300,000 in an application that protects Olympic and Paralympic athletes from online abuse, up to the Los Angeles 2028 Games. This initiative reflects the growing focus on safety issues in social networks.